KY House passes ATV child-helmet bill

Children younger than 16 would have to wear helmets when riding all-terrain vehicles under a bill passed yesterday by the Kentucky House.

Why do we need a law for this? It should be the parents responsibility to make their kids wear helmets. So basically what you are saying is its against the law for a 15 year old to ride an atv without a helmet but its okay for his dad to ride his Harley on the parkway at 65 mph without it. I seem to recall when they repealed the helmet law for adults it was a matter or "personal freedom" but this they say is not. I suppose that is because minors obviously have no rights as evidenced by the way the school systems treat them.

Deborah Stillwell, whose 12-year-old son, John, was seriously injured in an ATV accident, praised the bill's passage.

John was not wearing a helmet when he crashed into a church signpost in Taylor County last August. He suffered a brain injury and a fractured skull, a broken leg and three crushed vertebrae.

Deborah who obviously failed to make her child wear a helmet now thinks we should feel sorry for her. Maybe John hit the signpost because he is an idiot and should not have been on an atv to start with. I would like to know the make and model of the atv in question because I am willing to bet somewhere on the atv there is a warning label saying it was not to be operated by someone under 16. How many kids have you seen riding giant atv's made for adults?

My god how did I survive childhood with no helmet and on a 3-wheeler at that. Not only did I survive I never broke any bones or had serious injuries.

But the bill's sponsor, Rep. Jim Gooch, D-Providence, said a law might prompt more parents to make their children wear them.

"If this law can save one parent from having a child who is brain-injured or killed, " Gooch said, "I think this law will have been worth it."

Hey Jim I bet if you ban children from riding on bikes and skateboards without helmets you might save a few lives as well. Maybe after they are born we should just strap on a pro-tec until they are 18 cause you never know when one might fall down the steps.

I wonder if Mr Goochs kids wore helmets on atvs......

BTW has anyone seen Rep. Ballard who did not even vote on this? Thanks for representing your district jackass.